Long billed curlew early morning

[Ray Rozema]

I am new to posting here. I hope this appropriate. I process using Nikon NX2 but to post I saved it through Photoshop and I notice on the preview there maybe a little loss of detail. Thanks for suggestions. Ray

Nikon D200. Lens 600 F/4D. F stop: 5 . Shutter: 1/2500 sec. Mode: aperture priority
Exp Comp: 0 EV. Metering : Centered weight. ISO: 320 . Flash: No Tripod: yes
Place: Elk Grove, CA. Condition: Early morning;)

[Fabs Forns]

Hey Ray, great welcome to BPN, hope you can feel right at home here.
I love the birds and the light and even the pose. I don't mind not seeing the feet because the grass is covering them, but I'd like more room for the "virtual", I feel if they were visible, they'd be chopped.
I also feel there is too much contrast on the bird, loosing some of the beautiful soft feeling of the light.
Nice BG too!

[Randy Stout]

Ray:

Welcome to posting on BPN. Nice bird, well exposed, with pleasant background. Good that the horizon line is above the birds head. A bit more room at the bottom for the "virtual feet" would be nice. As cropped, the image is a bit centered, and just a bit more to the left would reduce that effect. It is a bit tricky when the bill is this long!

I use NX2 frequently, and just use its fit to size option to downsize the image for posting. I think the fewer programs and steps you have in your workflow, the fewer chances for image compromise. There is no question that the posting limit of 200K limits the quality of the posted jpegs. Some images, with more detail, are really degraded.

Thanks for posting and keep them coming!

Randy

Ray: Fabs and I were typing at the same time, sorry to duplicate some of her thoughts.

[Kobus Tollig]

Great light colour and exposure. I do feel that it needs a bit of space for the feet at the bottom. Great one well done

[Ray Rozema]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice.

Ray